[ad_1]
At the beginning of the month, the government said that in the first half of 2021, some 3.6 million Portuguese should be vaccinated against the new coronavirus. However, the Minister of Health this Friday was more cautious and gave no guarantees that this objective will be met:
“The estimated quantities of vaccines depend on the production and distribution capacity of third parties and we have to monitor them. The amounts have already been advanced, but I insist that they are mere estimates, ”said Marta Temido, in response to the BE deputy, Moisés Ferreira, who questioned the governor about the Vaccination Plan against covid-19.
The Minister of Health offers clarifications to Parliament this afternoon, in the framework of a joint hearing between the Health Commission and the Eventual Commission to monitor the application of response measures to covid-19, following the requests presented by the CDS- PP. and Liberal Initiative.
Marta Temido said that the country should receive around 1.2 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine between this month and March of next year, admitting not knowing if the deliveries will occur in a single moment or in several weeks of these months. “There are 312,975 accumulated doses in December and January, 429 thousand doses in February and 487,500 in March, that is, a total of 1.2 million doses, if the Pfizer deliveries during the first quarter are confirmed,” he said.
Parish councils can be vaccination points
Regarding Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines, the official admitted that there are also “great expectations” regarding the process, although it is further delayed. Asked about the fact that the vaccination sites provided are only health centers for the general population, Marta Temido said that the parish councils could also be included in the vaccination plan.
“We will try to have vaccination carried out in this setting, however, we also have the perception that at a time when vaccination becomes a broader reality, there may be an advantage in sharing this responsibility. We, for example We have already managed the seasonal flu. ” in spaces together in the parish and we do not rule out this hypothesis in relation to covid-19 not in this initial phase, but later, “he said.
He also recognized that demand remains at a “high level” during the coming months and that “enormous care” on the part of all Portuguese will be essential, since despite the expectation of the vaccine that is a “hope for all “It will be necessary to maintain” Precautionary measures “to stop the transmission of the new coronavirus.
Faced with the need to hire more health professionals for vaccination and faced with an eventual third vacancy, Marta Temido rejected criticism that the National Health Service (SNS) is not strengthening human resources. “In relation to human resources, we have never stopped hiring for the NHS in this legislature, in the other, without or with a pandemic.
More than 5 million tests for covid-19
The minister also reaffirmed that the National Health Service has proven to be resilient and increasingly responsive, that is, in terms of testing for covid-19. “More than 5.1 million tests have already been carried out in the Portuguese health system, in intense collaboration with the areas that comprise it. A network that today has 128 points for laboratory tests and which was completed with rapid antigen tests. Today we have a total of 81 points for these tests ”, he added.
Regarding the national strategic reserve, Marta Temido said that the country has guaranteed 58 million surgical masks, of which 14 million FFP2 and FFP3 and 22 million surgical gloves. He also highlighted the StayAway Covid app to promote screening for the disease, which has already downloaded more than 2.8 million, but acknowledged the app’s reduced scope. “Several codes were inserted, but not as many as we would like,” he said.
This Friday, the Minister of Economy, Pedro Siza Vieira, will be heard in the scope of the eventual commission to monitor the application of response measures to covid-19. On Monday it will be the turn of the Minister of Labor, Solidarity and Social Security, Ana Mendes Godinho, to answer the questions of the deputies in the same commission.
